1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, a data processing method, and a print control program for transmitting bitmap data, which is generated by converting print information, through a printer driver to an image forming apparatus to which an apparatus for performing a predetermined post process can be connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional language-based printing system, a printer driver in a host computer generates data described in a page description language, such as PostScript®, based on data to be printed and transmits the generated data to a printer. The printer converts the received print data described in the page description language to bitmap data and prints it. In order to convert the print data to bitmap data at high speed, which needs a high performance, a CPU of a high operating frequency and dedicated hardware are used.
On the other hand, in a host-based printing system, a printer driver in a host computer generates bitmap data in the host computer based on data to be printed and transmits the bitmap data to a printer.
Then, the printer prints the received bitmap data. At this time, in order to reduce an amount of data transferred from the host computer to the printer, the bitmap data is compressed in the host computer and is decompressed in the printer. Since conversion to bitmap data, which requires a high performance, is performed on the host computer side, a controller of the host-based printing system can be simply configured and the price thereof can be reduced.
Hitherto, a post-print processing apparatus represented by a stapler has not been installed in a host-based printer, which operates at a lower speed than a language-based printer.
In recent years, however, an improvement in a processing ability of host computers has enabled a higher-speed conversion to bitmap data. Accordingly, it is now possible to realize a satisfying printing environment with a host-based printing system.
Further, when considering a demand of the market for an enhanced productivity, a host-based printer provided with a stapler has considerable future promise.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-212022 discloses the following technique. That is, when print data to be stapled is transmitted from a printer driver installed in a computer, a printer that receives the print data detects the number of sheets to be finally output therefrom and determines whether the detected number of sheets is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number. If the detected number is equal to or smaller than the predetermined number, instructions of stapling or sorting from the printer driver are canceled.
Also, the above-mentioned patent document discloses that the printer driver includes a unit for detecting the number of pages of a document to be output and a unit for canceling a printing instruction when the detected number of pages is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number.
The printer disclosed in this patent document uses a scheme of receiving data described in a page description language and expanding it to image data in the printer side. In other words, the printing system disclosed in this patent document is not host-based.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-144607 discloses the following technique. First, a device counts the number of sheets to be printed out. Then, a device controller compares the counted number with a maximum acceptable number to be processed that is set in advance in a stapler provided in the device. As a result of the comparison, if it is determined that the number of sheets to be printed out exceeds the maximum acceptable number, the device controller automatically cancels a stapling operation instructed by a user so that an ordinary output process is performed.
In a conventional printing system including an information processing apparatus and a printer or the like, particularly in a printer which performs a printing operation based on a page description language, data described in a page description language transmitted from a host computer is converted to bitmap data in units of pages in the printer, and pieces of the converted page data are sequentially printed out. Therefore, if the number of sheets of print data to be stapled exceeds a capacity of a stapler, a user cannot provide instructions in an interactive manner. As a result, the conventional printer ignores the instructions of stapling from the user and prints the entire data, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-144607.
The printer driver is capable of specifying the number of sheets for recording page data created in an application. However, as in duplex printing, when an instruction of laying a plurality of pages on one sheet of paper is given, the printer driver cannot specify the number of sheets to be actually output. As a result, as in the control method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-144607, the printer specifies the number of sheets to be printed and compares the number of sheets with the maximum acceptable number set in the stapler.
In this method, if the number of sheets to be printed exceeds the maximum, a stapling process desired by the user is ignored. When the user wants a printer to staple large numbers of copies, if the printer outputs printed sheets of paper while ignoring the desire or setting of the user, the user is forced to manually sort and staple the sheets. This causes a significant decrease in usability.
It is possible to construct a host-based printing system including a stapler. In this system, however, the above-described case can of course occur, that is, the number of printed sheets to be stapled by a stapler in a host-based printer can exceed the capacity of the stapler.
In this system, the above-described problem which occurs in a language-based printer also occurs if stapling is canceled when the number of sheets to be output exceeds the maximum acceptable number. That is, in a printing operation using a host-based printing system, a user cannot perform an optimal stapling only by applying the control method according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-144607 to the host-based printing system.
However, the host-based printing system has a characteristic configuration in which a printer driver of a host computer generates bitmap data to be printed on one side of a sheet (that is, physical page data) and transmits the bitmap data to a printer. In other words, the number of sheets to be printed can be specified by the host computer, which cannot be realized in a conventional printing method based on a page description language.